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Fembots: The New Breed of Women

WebMD Archive

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In 2007, fembotism is the next frontier in the great big gender divide. We
can narrow the pay gap, outpace men in earning degrees, helm a company, run the
House of Representatives, choose to raise a child on our own, and match a man's
sexual appetite thrust for thrust. But there's an unspoken disclaimer: We'd
better not forsake our nurturing instinct while doing all of the above. Yeah,
well, some of us are saying screw you to the fine print.

Nicole, 33, has been with the same guy for five years and has no plans to
marry him — though he would love nothing more. "I like the way things are
now, but who's to say that I'll feel that way in a year or two? Relationships
are cyclical." She says this crisply and rationally, as though she were
talking about selling her stakes before a bullish economy lapsed into a bear
market.

I know where she's coming from. For as long as I can remember, the most
seemingly unnatural things — craving space, delaying commitment — have come
quite naturally to me. I've always understood the power of reticence, while my
mother, so warm and demonstrative, didn't. I remember once, when she was pissed
that my father was out too late with his softball buddies (as he was wont to
be), she asked me to read a note she had written him. I was 12 — and
precocious. "I don't know," I said, pouting my Wet n Wild lips. "Do
you have to tell Dad everything you feel?"

Unlike our mothers, women of my generation make up nearly half the
workforce. We spend seven-plus hours a day at the office, that classically male
arena where men have honed a lot of their own robotic abilities. And we're
learning their tricks: You don't have to — can't, really — think about last
night's spat with the boyfriend; just focus on work instead. Disengage, hold
things together, keep your cards close to your chest, and you'll get ahead.
Fembots have mastered these lessons and can apply them just as easily outside
the office.